The Tabwa are an ethnic group living mainly on the southwestern shores of Lake Tanganyika, and in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, they are led by chiefs-sorcerers who rule over village chiefs and family chiefs. Their power is counterbalanced by male societies created on Luba prototypes and by female associations influenced by East African models. The Tabwa used two types of masks: a human one, which represented woman, and another in the form of a buffalo head, which represented man. Both would make an appearance at the time of the fecundity ritual, celebrated for sterile women. This is strongly believed to be a female mask because of the scarifications on the mask’s face, it has a brown patina and was carved with great sensitivity and visible signs of old age.
- Condition: Good
- Material: Wood
- Age:50-60yrs
- Origin: Democratic Republic Congo
- SKU: LMSK-046
- Weight: 0.4 kg
- Dimensions: 22 x 27.4 x 11 cm